Integrated multi-touch surface having varying sensor granularity

ABSTRACT

This relates to an event sensing device that includes an event sensing panel and is able to dynamically change the granularity of the panel according to present needs. Thus, the granularity of the panel can differ at different times of operation. Furthermore, the granularity of specific areas of the panel can also be dynamically changed, so that different areas feature different granularities at a given time. This also relates to panels that feature different inherent granularities in different portions thereof. These panels can be designed, for example, by placing more stimulus and/or data lines in different portions of the panel, thus ensuring different densities of pixels in the different portions. Optionally, these embodiments can also include the dynamic granularity changing features noted above.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This relates to multi-touch enabled surfaces, and more particularly tomulti-touch enabled surfaces having varying sensor granularity.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/483,008 filed on Jul. 6, 2006 andentitled “Capacitance Sensing Electrode with Integrated I/O Mechanism”(incorporated by reference herein in its entirety) teachescapacitance-based touch sensing.

U.S. application Ser. No. 10/722,948, filed on Nov. 25, 2003 andentitled “Touch Pad for Handheld Device” (also incorporated herein byreference) teaches a pixel based touch pad. The touch pad of applicationSer. No. 10/722,948 can be considered to be a “single touch” touch pad,i.e., it can be configured to detect a single touch event at any onetime. The touch pad of application Ser. No. 10/722,948 does not disclosedynamically changing the granularity of touch pixels.

U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/649,998 filed on Jan. 3, 2007 andentitled “Proximity and Multi-Touch Sensor Detection and Demodulation”(also incorporated by reference herein in its entirety) teaches amulti-touch sensing panel which can be combined with a display in aportable device. Thus, interaction between a user and the portabledevice can be improved, as the user can interact with dynamicallydisplayed images by virtually touching them, moving them, turning them,etc. application Ser. No. 11/649,998 also describes near field andfar-field proximity sensing. Some previously described multi-touchpanels (as well as near-field and far-field proximity panels) featuretouch sensing elements (or touch pixels) that are of the same size. Inother words, they feature touch sensors with uniform granularity.

U.S. application Ser. No. 11/619,433 filed on Jan. 3, 2007 and entitledSimultaneous Sensing Arrangement” (incorporated by reference herein inits entirety) describes a multi-touch panel which initially scans fortouch events at a low granularity and then, if it detects touch eventsin particular regions, scans for them with higher granularities. Thus,the panel of the Ser. No. 11/619,433 application, while providing thatsome regions may be initially scanned at lower granularities, stillensures that touch events at the entire panel are eventually scanned andprocessed at the same granularity.

Each touch pixel of a multi-touch panel can require a certain amount ofpower. Lower granularity can require less pixels and consequently lesspower. Minimizing the power usage can be very beneficial for multi-touchenabled devices. This can be especially true for devices having largedisplays/touch panels. However, in certain instances, a certain level ofgranularity may be necessary in order to correctly detect touch events.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This relates to an event sensing device that includes an event sensingpanel and is able to dynamically change the granularity of the panelaccording to present needs. Thus, the granularity of the panel candiffer at different times of operation. Furthermore, the granularity ofspecific areas of the panel can also be dynamically changed, so thatdifferent areas feature different granularities at a given time.

Thus, the power usage of the panel, and the panel's input resolution canbe optimized. The granularity can be increased or kept high at times andareas of the panel where higher input resolution is necessary. If alower input resolution is needed, the granularity can be decreased tosave power.

In some embodiments, the panel can be a display. Furthermore, the panelcan be, for example, a single-touch sensing panel, a multi-touch sensingpanel, a near field proximity sensing panel or a far-field proximitysensing panel.

In some embodiments, the granularity of the panel or portions thereofcan be controlled by selectively deactivating and activating one or morestimulus and/or data lines of the panel, thus deactivating one or moreevent sensing pixels of the panel. Also, two or more data lines can beconnected to the same sensing circuit in order to combine two or moresensing pixels in a single sensing pixel.

This also relates to panels that feature different inherentgranularities in different portions thereof. These panels can bedesigned, for example, by placing more stimulus and/or data lines indifferent portions of the panel, thus ensuring different densities ofpixels in the different portions. Optionally, these embodiments can alsoinclude the dynamic granularity changing features discussed above.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram of an exemplary conventional multi-touch enableddisplay.

FIGS. 2A and 2B are diagrams of exemplary schemes of deactivatingstimulus and/or data lines according to one embodiment of thisinvention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram of the exemplary multi-touch enabled display of FIG.1 when configured to include low granularity regions according to oneembodiment of this invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram of an exemplary multi-touch enabled device accordingto one embodiment of this invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram of an alternative multi-touch panel featuringvarying granularity according to one embodiment of this invention.

FIG. 6A is a diagram of a mobile telephone according to one embodimentof this invention.

FIG. 6B is a diagram of an audio player according to one embodiment ofthis invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

In the following description of preferred embodiments, reference is madeto the accompanying drawings which form a part hereof, and in which itis shown by way of illustration specific embodiments in which theinvention may be practiced. It is to be understood that otherembodiments may be utilized and structural changes may be made withoutdeparting from the scope of the preferred embodiments of the invention.

This relates to multi-touch, single touch and proximity sensor panelshaving varying sensor granularity.

Although embodiments of this invention are described herein in terms ofdevices utilizing mutual capacitance based multi-touch technologies, itshould be understood that the invention is not limited to such devices,but is generally applicable to devices utilizing other touch andproximity sensing technologies as well.

FIG. 1 is a diagram of an existing touch sensing panel 100. Panel 100can be, for example, a multi-touch sensing panel. The panel can includeplurality of stimulus lines 101 and data lines 102. The stimulus linescan intersect the data lines without being directly connected to them(e.g., by passing under or over the data lines). Each intersection of astimulus line and a data line can define a touch pixel. Touch events canbe detected at a touch pixel by measuring changes in the capacitancebetween stimulus and a data lines associated with the pixel. In someembodiments, changes in other capacitances (e.g., between a data lineand a back plate) can also be measured to detect touch events.

Changes of the capacitances can be measured by sending a stimulus signalalong consecutive stimulus lines 101 and detecting a resulting signal atlines 102. Lines 102 can be connected to sensing circuits 103. In someembodiments, the sensing circuits can include charge amplifiers. Forexample, circuit 104 is an exemplary sensing circuit 103. The circuitcan include charge amplifier circuit 105 and signal processing circuit106. The charge amplifier and signal processing circuits can togetherproduce a digital value representative of the capacitance between a dataline associated with circuit 104 and a stimulus line (or lines) that iscurrently being stimulated. In other words, at any one time theresulting digital signal can represent the capacitance at a touch pixelassociated with these lines. This digital signal can be furtherprocessed to detect changes in this capacitance which may indicate thepresence or absence of a touch event at the touch pixel.

A single touch sensing panel (i.e., a pane; capable of sensing a singletouch event at a time only) can be similar to panel 100. In someembodiments, a single touch sensing panel can feature simpler touchsensing circuitry. For example, it may feature a single sensing circuit103 which is time multiplexed to the different data lines 102. In otherwords, the various data lines can be periodically connected to thesingle sensing circuit.

Each touch pixel can be associated with an area for which the touchpixel is intended to detect touch events. For example, touch pixel 107can be associated with area 108. Area 108 can be referred to as the sizeof the touch pixel. The size of a touch pixel can depend on the overallgranularity (or density) of touch pixels. A high granularity can imply ahigher number of touch pixels in a given area and thus a smaller sizefor each touch pixel. A higher granularity can be beneficial for certainapplications as it can allow the device to detect the position of touchevents with higher precision.

However, a higher granularity can require a higher number of stimulusand/or data lines. Each active data line can consume power. A stimulusline can consume power when a stimulus signal needs to be sent throughit. A data line can consume power when active, because the sensingcircuit associated with it (e.g., circuit 104) can consume power whenactive. For example, amplifier and signal processing circuits 105 and106 may need external power to operate. Thus, a data line can consumepower when active regardless of whether a touch event is occurring ornot.

Therefore, reducing the number of stimulus and/or data lines canbeneficially reduce power consumption. However, as noted above, someapplications can require a high number of stimulus and data lines asthey can require high pixel granularity.

Different applications can have different requirements as to the levelof granularity of touch sensors. For example, a map application canrequire high granularity in order to sense when a user selectsparticular areas of the map, while a simple calculator application canrequire low granularity as it may feature relatively large buttons.Furthermore, a single application can have different granularityrequirements at different times and at different areas of the screen.For example, an application can require high granularity during usualoperation but can, at a certain time, display a simple yes or no dialogbox, and disable all other input features. At this time, the onlypossible input for the user can be pressing one of two or morerelatively large buttons. Thus, at the above referred time, thegranularity requirement of the application can be relatively low.

In another example, an application can require a high granularity in acertain portion of a screen and lower granularity in other portions. Forexample, a video playback application can use a first portion of thescreen for video play back. In that portion, the user can be expected toonly provide simple inputs (such as, e.g., tapping the screen to startor stop the video, or dragging one or more fingers across the surface tofast forward or reverse the video). However, the application can use asecond portion of the screen for a tool bar, where the user can presssmaller and more complex buttons to perform more complex tasks (e.g.,change volume, change subtitles, etc.) Thus, the application can requirea higher level of granularity at that second portion of the screen.

In some existing devices, the solution can be to provide the highestlevel of granularity for the entire screen and at all times. However,these embodiments can result in higher than desired power usage due tothe necessity to power a relatively high number of stimulus and datalines. Embodiments of this invention can solve this by allowing thedevice to dynamically change the granularity of the display according topresent needs. Furthermore, the granularity of specific areas of thedisplay can also be dynamically changed.

In some embodiments, the granularity can be changed in response tocommands issued by a device's operating system or the applicationsrunning at the device. In one exemplary embodiment, the operating system(or other utility software running at the device) can receive variousinstructions from applications running at the device. The instructionscan be intended to cause the device to display various objects at thedevice's display. The operating system can determine which of theobjects to be displayed are visual control elements. Visual controlelements can be visual elements which allow user interaction. Thus,visual control elements can include, for example, buttons, knobs,sliders, etc. In one embodiment, the operating system can control thegranularity in order to ensure that portions of the display whichinclude visual control elements feature higher granularity whileportions that do not include such elements. Thus, it can be ensured thatportions of the display with which the user is more likely to interactand for which it is more important to accurately detect user interactionfeature higher granularity, while the granularity of other portions canbe decreased to save power.

Alternatively or in addition, a user can be allowed to change thegranularity by utilizing a configuration interface of the device.

The granularity can be changed by selectively deactivating variousstimulus and/or data lines. A stimulus line can be deactivated by notsending a stimulus signal on that line. A data line can be deactivatedby removing power from the various circuits of the data line. FIGS. 2Aand 2B show two exemplary schemes for deactivating stimulus and/or datalines.

FIG. 2A shows multi-touch panel (or portion thereof) 200. Stimulus lines201-205 intersect data lines 211-215. Stimulus lines 201, 203 and 205can be inactive. In other words, no stimulus signal may be sent alongthose lines. A stimulus signal can be sequentially sent along lines 202and 204. Similarly, data lines 212 and 214 can be inactive. In otherwords, the sensing circuits connected to these lines (circuits 220 and221, respectively) can be powered down.

In a single touch sensing panel, stimulus lines can be deactivated inthe manner discussed above. If multiple sensing circuits are used (e.g.,one per data line), data lines can also be deactivated in the mannerdiscussed above. If a single time multiplexed sensing circuit is used,specific data lines can be deactivated by not connecting these datalines to the single sensing circuit.

Thus, some of the touch pixels (such as, e.g., pixels 230, 231, 232,etc.) can become inactive while other pixels (such as, e.g., pixels 233,234, 235) can remain active. In general, an inactive pixel can be apixel for which one or both of the stimulus line and the data line arenot active.

Deactivating some pixels can reduce the density or granularity ofexisting touch pixels. It can also reduce the overall power requirementsfor the device. In some embodiments, various pixels can be dynamicallydeactivated and activated as the granularity requirements of variousapplications running at the display change, in order to ensure minimumpower is being expended while also ensuring that the granularityrequirements of the applications running on the device are satisfied.

As seen in FIG. 2A, the granularity can be reduced by deactivating everyother stimulus and data line. However, other ratios can be used. Forexample, one in every three stimulus and data lines can be active. Someembodiments can provide multiple granularity levels by providingdifferent ratios of active/inactive stimulus and/or data lines.

FIG. 2 b shows a different scheme of reducing the granularity. In FIG.2B sensing circuits 222, 223 and 224 can be deactivated. However thedata lines corresponding to these deactivated circuits (i.e., data lines211, 213 and 214) can be connected to neighboring active circuits. Thiseffectively increases the size of active pixels by making neighboringpixels which would have been inactive in the scheme of FIG. 2A “join”the active pixels. Thus, what were pixels 236, 237 and 238 are allconnected to a single sensor circuit and thus form a single pixel 237′.Note that these pixels are combined because the single sensing circuitcan only sense the total capacitance of these pixels and not theirindividual capacitances.

If the granularity is to be increased again, sensing circuits 222, 223and 221 can be turned back on and their respective data lines 211, 213and 214 can be connected back to them. The data lines can be selectivelyconnected to different sensing circuits through switches 240-242. Thus,the granularity of touch pixels can be selectively reduced and/orincreased.

FIG. 3 shows exemplary multi-touch display 300 that has been configuredto include two low granularity regions. Accordingly, low granularityregions 301 and 302 can be present. As discussed above, these regionscan be dynamically formed after determining that fine resolution oftouch data is not necessary for these regions at a particular time.

As noted above, stimulus lines 101 of the display can be activated orstimulated sequentially. Low granularity region 301 can be formed by notstimulating some lines selected from stimulus lines 303 which areassociated with this region. For example, as shown in FIG. 2A, everyother stimulus line can be left inactive. Furthermore, some of thesensor circuits 102 can also be deactivated (or powered down). However,in some embodiments, these sensor circuits may only be left inactivewhile region 301 is being stimulated (or, in other words, while theremaining active stimulus lines from stimulus lines 303 are beingstimulated). When other stimulus lines are stimulated (e.g., stimulusline 304), all sensor circuits 102 can be activated in order to ensurethat the granularity is not reduced for regions that are not intended tobe of reduced granularity (e.g., region 305).

In order to reduce the granularity of region 302, some of the sensorcircuits 307 associated with the region can be deactivated or powereddown when one or more of the stimulus lines associated with region 302(i.e., stimulus lines 306) are being stimulated. However, in contrast toregion 301, in some embodiments, none of the stimulus lines 306 aredeactivated. Thus, a granularity decrease for neighboring regions wheresuch a decrease may not be desired (such as region 308) can be avoided.It should be noted that the above issue was not present for region 301because that region spans the entire width of the display. Thereforedeactivating some of the stimulus lines associated with that region maynot result in granularity decreases for any other regions.

FIG. 4 is a diagram of an exemplary device according to an embodiment ofthis invention. Device 400 can comprise a multi-touch enabled display401. The stimulus lines of the display can be connected to drivercircuitry 402, while the data lines can be connected to sensorcircuitry. The sensor circuitry can include the various sensor circuits103.

The device can include device controller 404 connected to the driver andsensor circuitry. The device controller can be used to control themulti-touch functionality of the display. In some embodiments, thedevice controller can also be used to control the display functionality.The device can also include a CPU 405, a memory 406 and a bus 407connecting various components.

Software stored on the memory can be executed by the CPU in order toeffect the multi-touch device functionality. The software may includeoperating system (OS) 408, applications 409, drivers 410, as well asother software. The various software can determine what granularity isneeded at various portions of the display at various times and cause theCPU to effect that granularity by sending instructions to the devicecontroller. The device controller can, pursuant to the instructions,cause the driver circuitry to omit stimulating certain stimulus linesand/or the sensor circuitry to turn of certain sensor circuits in orderto reduce the granularity of certain regions at certain times asdiscussed above.

Device 400 can be any multi-touch enabled device. For example, it can bea mobile telephone, an audio player (portable or non-portable), a PDA, anotebook computer, a desktop computer, any computing device, aninformational kiosk, etc.

In one embodiment, a device such as device 400 can feature very coarsegranularity if in sleep mode, or when a user is not interacting with thedevice. The coarse granularity can be used to detect when a user beginsinteracting with the device (thus causing the device to exit out ofsleep mode). Once the device is out of sleep mode, it can increase thegranularity in order to more effectively detect touch events.

FIG. 5 is a diagram of an alternative multi-touch panel featuringvarying granularity. In the above discussed embodiments the granularityis varied dynamically. In other words, granularity can be changed duringdevice operation. According to some embodiments a panel or display canbe designed so that certain portions of it inherently have higher orlower granularity. For example, as seen in panel 500 of FIG. 5, lowgranularity portion 501 can cover most of the display, while highgranularity portion 502 can be positioned along the bottom of thedisplay as shown. Of course, in other embodiments the sizes and relativepositions of portions of differing granularities can be different.

The granularity differences of portions 501 and 502 are not caused byselectively deactivating various lines (as discussed above) but byplacing a relatively high number of lines in the high granularityportion and a lower number of lines in the low granularity portions, asshown.

This embodiment can be used for systems where it is known that a limitedportion of the display may need to feature higher granularity. Forexample, the high granularity portion can be used for stylus basedhandwriting recognition, while the low granularity portion can be usedfor finger based touch sensing. In an alternative embodiment, the highgranularity portion can be used for fingerprint recognition.

The dynamic granularity control discussed above can also be used inconjunction with the embodiment of FIG. 5. For example if the embodimentof FIG. 5 is used for handwriting recognition, but a certain softwarepresently running on the device does not feature handwriting recognitionand relies entirely on touch sensing, then the methods discussed abovecan be used to reduce the granularity of portion 502 to match that ofportion 501 in order to save power.

The above noted application Ser. No. 11/649,998 discusses far-field andnear-field proximity displays as well as touch sensing displays.Near-field proximity displays can utilize the same or similar methods tothose used by multi-touch displays discussed above. More specifically,they can sense proximity events (i.e., fingers or other objects beingplaced in proximity to the display) and their locations based on mutualcapacitance measurements using circuitry identical or similar to themulti-touch enabled displays discussed above.

Far-field proximity displays can sense proximity events utilizing otherproximity sensors such as, for example, infrared transmitters andreceivers. These displays can also include stimulus lines, data linesand sensing circuits. For example a row of infrared transmitters can beconnected to a stimulus line and a column of infrared receivers can beconnected to a data line terminating at a sensor circuit. Far-fieldproximity sensors may be able to sense proximity events at greaterdistances than near-field ones. Both far-field and near-field proximitysensors can be pixel based.

Far-field and near-field proximity sensing panels can feature multipixel sensing (i.e., being able to detect multiple events at the sametime) and/or single pixel sensing (i.e., being able to detect a singleevent at a time). A multi-touch or single touch display can also combinefar-field and/or near-field proximity sensor functionality. Embodimentsof the invention can include far-field or near-field sensor panelsincluding varying granularity features similar to the ones discussedabove in connection with multi-touch panels. Furthermore, embodimentscan include panels that feature a combination of far-field, near-fieldand multi-touch functionality and configured to provide varyinggranularity for one, or Multiple of these functionalities.

Generally, embodiments of the present invention can be applicable to anydevices that include event sensing panels. As discussed above, the eventsensing panels can be, for example, single-touch panels, multi-touchpanels, far-field proximity panels and/or near-field proximity panels.Other event sensing panels can also be used. These panels can bedisplays. Alternatively, these can be panels that do not feature anydisplay functionality. The panels can include event sensing pixels. Theevent sensing pixels can be touch sensing pixels, far-field proximitysensing pixels and/or near field proximity sensing pixels. In some casesa single pixel can combine two or more functionalities. For example, asdiscussed above a single mutual capacitance based pixel can be used bothfor touch sensing and near-field proximity sensing. Also, pixels ofdifferent types can be placed in the same panel.

It should be noted that according to the above discussed embodiments,the granularity of event sensing pixels can be changed, or can differ atthe panel or display hardware level. In other words, the granularity iscontrolled by actually activating/deactivating panel hardware componentsor providing panel hardware components (e.g., stimulus and data lines)of differing densities. Other existing systems can control granularityat higher levels, such as a controller hardware level, or software levelby, for example, performing various types of compression on the raw dataprovided by the display, or simply ignoring some of the raw data. Thesesystems can be of limited utility as compared to embodiments of theinvention as they still require the low level panel hardware to operateat higher granularity and thus use relatively high amounts of power. Onthe other hand, embodiments of the invention can reduce the power usedby actually reducing the granularity at the panel level.

FIG. 6A is a diagram of an embodiment of the invention. Morespecifically, FIG. 6A is a diagram of a mobile telephone according to anembodiment of the invention. The mobile telephone can be similar to thedevice shown in FIG. 4. It can include a display 401 that implements thevarying granularity features discussed above. Various internal elements,such as controller 404, processor 405 and memory 406 can be placed underthe display.

Similarly, FIG. 6B is a diagram of an audio player according to anembodiment of the invention. The audio player can be a portable digitalaudio player or an audio player of another type. Again, the audio playercan be similar to the device shown in FIG. 4. It can include a display401 that implements the varying granularity features discussed above.Various internal elements, such as controller 404, processor 405 andmemory 406 can be placed under the display.

Although the invention has been fully described in connection withembodiments thereof with reference to the accompanying drawings, it isto be noted that various changes and modifications will become apparentto those skilled in the art. Such changes and modifications are to beunderstood as being included within the scope of the invention asdefined by the appended claims.

1. A method for controlling the power of a multi-touch enabled devicecomprising a multi-touch enabled display, the multi-touch enableddisplay comprising a plurality of touch pixels placed along the displayat a predetermined initial granularity, the method comprising: selectinga portion of the display which requires a lower level granularity at apredetermined time; and dynamically reducing the granularity of touchpixels at display hardware level in the selected portion of the displayduring the predetermined time.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein: thedisplay includes a plurality of data lines connected to respectivesensor circuits; a first set of sensor circuits comprising one or moreof the respective sensor circuits is associated with the selectedportion of the display; and the dynamically reducing the granularityfurther comprises removing power from one or more sensor circuits fromthe first set of sensor circuits.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein atleast one of the sensor circuits of the first set of sensor circuitsremains powered.
 4. The method of claim 2, wherein: the display includesa plurality of stimulus lines; a first set of stimulus lines comprisingone or more of the plurality of stimulus lines is associated with theselected portion of the display; power is removed from the one or moresensor circuits from the first set of sensor circuits, only when one ormore of the first set of stimulus lines is being stimulated.
 5. Themethod of claim 4, wherein dynamically reducing the granularity furthercomprises ensuring that at least one sensor circuit from the first setof sensor circuits is not stimulated at all during the predeterminedtime.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein the selected portion of thedisplay encompasses the entire width of the display.
 7. The method ofclaim 1, further including the steps of: selecting a second portion ofthe display which requires a lower level granularity at thepredetermined time; and dynamically reducing the granularity of touchpixels at display hardware level in the second portion of the displayduring the predetermined time.
 8. A method of producing a multi-touchenabled device, comprising: selecting a first region which requires afirst level of granularity of touch pixels; selecting a second regionwhich requires a second level of granularity of touch pixels, the secondlevel being different than that of the first region; manufacturing adisplay having the first level of granularity of touch pixels in thefirst region and the second level of granularity of touch pixels in thesecond region; and installing the display in the device.
 9. The methodof claim 8, wherein manufacturing the display further comprises placinga plurality of stimulus and data lines on the display, wherein thestimulus and data lines have a first density in the first region and asecond density in the second region, the first density being differentthan the second density.
 10. The method of claim 9 further comprisingthe step of dynamically changing the granularity of pixels in thedisplay during operation of the device.
 11. The method of claim 10,wherein the dynamically changing of the granularity is such that itcauses the granularity of the first region to match that of the secondregion.
 12. A multi-touch enabled device, comprising: a multi-touchdisplay, comprising a plurality of touch pixels; a CPU connected to theplurality of touch pixels; and a memory comprising a software executableat the CPU, the software being configured to cause the CPU to select aportion of the display which requires a lower level granularity at apredetermined time, and dynamically reduce the granularity of touchpixels at display hardware level in the selected portion of the displayduring the predetermined time.
 13. The device of claim 12, wherein thedevice further includes a device controller and the CPU dynamicallyreduces the granularity by communicating with the device controller. 14.The device of claim 12, wherein the display further comprises: aplurality of stimulus lines; a plurality of data lines; and a pluralityof sensor circuits, each sensor circuit being connected to a respectivedata line, and the CPU dynamically reduces the granularity of touchpixels by dynamically deactivating one or more sensor circuits from theplurality of sensor circuits, the one or more sensor circuits beingassociated with the selected portion of the display.
 15. The device ofclaim 14, wherein the one or more sensor circuits are dynamicallydeactivated only when one or more stimulus lines associated with theselected portion of the display are being stimulated.
 16. The device ofclaim 14, wherein the plurality of sensor circuits are connected to theplurality of data lines through a plurality of switches and the switchesare configured to, in the event that a sensor circuit connected to theswitch is deactivated, connect a data line connected to the switch toanother active sensor circuit.
 17. The device of claim 14, wherein theother active sensor circuit is in proximity to the deactivated sensorcircuit.
 18. The device of claim 14, wherein the CPU dynamically reducesthe granularity of touch pixels by dynamically deactivating one or morestimulus lines from the plurality of stimulus lines, the one or morestimulus lines being associated with the selected portion of thedisplay.
 19. The device of claim 12, wherein the device is a mobiletelephone.
 20. The device of claim 12, wherein the device is an audioplayer.
 21. A portable telephone, comprising: a multi-touch display,comprising a plurality of touch pixels; a CPU connected to the pluralityof touch pixels; and a memory comprising a software executable at theCPU, the software being configured to cause the CPU to select a portionof the display which requires a lower level granularity at apredetermined time, and dynamically reduce the granularity of touchpixels at display hardware level in the selected portion of the displayduring the predetermined time.
 22. An audio player, comprising: amulti-touch display, comprising a plurality of touch pixels; a CPUconnected to the plurality of touch pixels; and a memory comprising asoftware executable at the CPU, the software being configured to causethe CPU to select a portion of the display which requires a lower levelgranularity at a predetermined time, and dynamically reduce thegranularity of touch pixels at display hardware level in the selectedportion of the display during the predetermined time.
 23. A multi-touchenabled device, comprising a multi-touch enabled display comprising: aplurality of touch pixels; a first region having a first granularity oftouch pixels; and a second region having a second granularity of touchpixels, the second granularity being different than the first one. 24.The multi-touch enabled device of claim 23, wherein the display furthercomprises a plurality of stimulus lines and a plurality of data lines,an intersection of a stimulus line and a data line defining a pixel,wherein the stimulus lines and the data lines are positioned in a firstdensity in the first region and a second density in the second region,the first density being different than the second one.
 25. The device ofclaim 22, wherein the device is a mobile telephone.
 26. The device ofclaim 22, wherein the device is an audio player.
 27. A mobile telephone,comprising a multi-touch enabled display comprising: a plurality oftouch pixels; a first region having a first granularity of touch pixels;and a second region having a second granularity of touch pixels, thesecond granularity being different than the first one.
 28. An audioplayer comprising a multi-touch enabled display comprising: a pluralityof touch pixels; a first region having a first granularity of touchpixels; and a second region having a second granularity of touch pixels,the second granularity being different than the first one.
 29. Acomputer readable medium, comprising computer software instructions, thecomputer software instructions being executable at a CPU of amulti-touch enabled device having a multi-touch enabled display andbeing configured to cause the CPU to: implement a graphical touch baseduser interface at the multi-touch enabled display; based on thegraphical touch based user interface, select at least one area of themulti-touch enabled display as an area in which a lower touch sensorgranularity is acceptable during a predetermined time; and dynamicallyreduce the granularity of touch pixels at display hardware level in theselected portion of the display during the predetermined time.
 30. Amethod for controlling the power of an event sensing device comprisingan event sensing panel, the event sensing panel comprising a pluralityof event sensing pixels placed along the panel at a first granularity,the method comprising: selecting a portion of the panel which requires adifferent granularity at a predetermined time, the portion of the panelincluding the entire panel or any portion thereof; and dynamicallychanging the granularity of event sensing pixels at panel hardware levelin the selected portion of the panel during the predetermined time. 31.The method of claim 30 wherein the event sensing panel includes one ormore functionalities selected from the group consisting of: single-touchsensing, multi-touch sensing, near-field sensing, and far-field sensing.32. The method of claim 30 wherein the event sensing panel is asingle-touch sensing panel and the event sensing pixels are touch sensorpixels.
 33. The method of claim 30 wherein the event sensing panel is anear-field proximity sensing panel and the event sensing pixels are nearfield proximity sensor pixels.
 34. The method of claim 30 wherein theevent sensing panel is a far-field proximity sensing panel and the eventsensing pixels are far field proximity sensor pixels.
 35. The method ofclaim 30, wherein dynamically changing the granularity includesdynamically increasing the granularity.
 36. The method of claim 30,wherein dynamically changing the granularity includes dynamicallydecreasing the granularity.
 37. The method of claim 30, wherein theselecting a portion of the panel which requires a different granularityand dynamically changing the granularity is performed in response touser input.
 38. The method of claim 30, wherein the selecting a portionof the panel which requires a different granularity and dynamicallychanging the granularity is performed in response to commands issued byan operating system of the event sensing device.
 39. The method of claim38, wherein the event sensing panel is an event sensing display, and thecommands issued by the operating system are based on the positioning ofvarious visual control elements at the event sensing display.
 40. Themethod of claim 39, wherein the visual control elements are buttons. 41.The method of claim 39, wherein the commands are such that portions ofthe event sensing display that include visual control elements includeevent sensing pixels at higher granularity than portions of the eventsensing display that do not include visual control elements.
 42. Themethod of claim 30, wherein the selecting a portion of the panel whichrequires a different granularity and dynamically changing thegranularity is performed in response to commands issued by anapplication running at the event sensing device.
 43. A method ofproducing an event sensing device, comprising: selecting a first regionwhich requires a first level of granularity of event sensing pixels;selecting a second region which requires a second level of granularityof event sensing pixels, the second level being different than that ofthe first region; manufacturing a panel having the first level ofgranularity of event sensing pixels in the first region and the secondlevel of granularity of event sensing pixels in the second region; andinstalling the panel in the device.
 44. The method of claim 43 whereinthe event sensing device includes one or more functionalities selectedfrom the group consisting of: multi-touch sensing, near-field sensing,and far-field sensing.
 45. The method of claim 43 wherein the eventsensing device is a near-field proximity sensing device and the eventsensing pixels are near field proximity sensor pixels.
 46. The method ofclaim 43 wherein the event sensing device is a far-field proximitysensing device and the event sensing pixels are far field proximitysensor pixels.
 47. An event sensing device, comprising: an event sensingpanel, comprising a plurality of event sensing pixels; a CPU connectedto the plurality of event sensing pixels; and a memory comprising asoftware executable at the CPU, the software being configured to causethe CPU to select a portion of the panel which requires a lower levelgranularity at a predetermined time, and dynamically reduce thegranularity of event sensing pixels at panel hardware level in theselected portion of the panel during the predetermined time.
 48. Thedevice of claim 47, wherein the event sensing panel features one or morefunctionalities selected from the group consisting of: single-touchsensing, multi-touch sensing, near-field sensing, and far-field sensing.49. The device of claim 47, wherein the event sensing device is asingle-touch sensing device, the event sensing panel is a single-touchsensing panel and the event sensing pixels are touch sensor pixels. 50.The device of claim 47 wherein the event sensing device is a near-fieldproximity sensing device, the event sensing panel is a near-fieldproximity sensing panel and the event sensing pixels are near-fieldproximity sensor pixels.
 51. The device of claim 47 wherein the eventsensing device is a far-field proximity sensing device, the eventsensing panel is a far-field proximity sensing panel and the eventsensing pixels are far-field proximity sensor pixels.
 52. An eventsensing device, comprising an event sensing panel comprising: aplurality of event sensing pixels; a first region having a firstgranularity of event sensing pixels; and a second region having a secondgranularity of event sensing pixels pixels, the second granularity beingdifferent than the first one.
 53. The device of claim 52, wherein theevent sensing device features one or more functionalities selected fromthe group consisting of: multi-touch sensing, near-field sensing, andfar-field sensing.
 54. The device of claim 52 wherein the event sensingdevice is a near-field proximity sensing device, the event sensing panelis a near-field proximity sensing panel and the event sensing pixels arenear-field proximity sensor pixels.
 55. The device of claim 52 whereinthe event sensing device is a far-field proximity sensing device, theevent sensing panel is a far-field proximity sensing panel and the eventsensing pixels are far-field proximity sensor pixels.